ABSTRACT
There is a growing awareness of the need to treat whole families when paediatric problems present (John and Bradford, 1991; Sainsbury et al., 1986). The development of this thinking can be traced back to the 1950s when theories of attachment were applied to parent-child separations following admissions to hospital (Bowlby, 1971; Robertson, 1958). These research findings, along with the Piatt Report (1959), promoted changes in hospital policies concerning children and their parents. No longer were children expected to be isolated from their families during admissions: rather, the care-taker was encouraged to visit the ward and stay overnight if possible. The increasing attention paid to the psychological sequelae of childhood chronic illness has served also to highlight the importance of involving families in treatment (Bradford, 1990a; 1990b; Wallander et al., 1989b) and it is now widely accepted that optimal care encourages parents to stay with their ill child in hospital and to take an active role in preparing and helping their child cope with the experience.
